Chapter one

Suddenly the phone began to ring off the hook. From all around the country.

"What was your motivation, Mr. Collins, for bringing Negro children onto the show?"

"Do you intent to have Colored dancers on the same stage as the white kids?"

"Will they dance TOGETHER?"

"Will interracial relationships be discouraged?"

"Are you considering other races as members of the council?"

"Have you had any death threats?"

"WHAT were you thinking?"

Corny hung up the phone for the last time. He lifted the handset, listened gently for the dial tone and put it down on the desk. Not long after a loud beeping tone began then just as quickly, the sound was gone. He let out a deep sigh. The whole experience was a wild ride. He was in the national spotlight. With the sweep of a hand and a split second decision, Inez Stubbs became the lead dancer on the Corny Collins Show and Corny didn't regret it. In fact, he was quite pleased with how the entire show turned out.

He loved the new Motown style that was frowned upon by the management, and scooted in to listen on Negro Day. Many of the Colored Council considered him a friend and he held Maybelle in the highest of regard. She, of all the women he had met, was class in the first degree. From her roots as a floor scrubber to the only Colored star of Baltimore tv, she gracefully took her place behind HIS podium when she should have had one herself. He had tried so many times to tell her how much he admired her strength and tenacity, but her eyebrows always raised and with a cock of her head, she would admonish him.

"Honey, life is tough for people like me. You can lick your wounds or claw to the top. Baby, I got my nails sharpened!" she would gleam.

It always made him smile and he would forget for a second that she was right. There were places in town she couldn't go, people she couldn't be seen with and rights that she didn't have, because of the color of her skin and her gender. A black woman was nothing in 1962.

On the other end of the class scale, Velma Von Tussle/ thorn in his side/pain in his ass, was escorted out by security after attempting to rig the Miss Teenage Hairspray Pageant. When he thought about it, he giggled. Damn straight, giggled like a little girl. The look of that overbearing, under loved, control freak being lead screaming from the studio was the peach in his pie. He loved the thought of it, and smiled as he tried to photographically memorize the mascara streaming down her face, her perfect hair deflating to strings as she screamed for a lawyer and bellowed that she would sue. As she was pushed out the door, her spawn followed behind her. Amber.

Lord, how that girl made life hell for everyone on the show. But at the moment she shuffled out of the studio, eyes to the ground, broken and beaten, he had actually felt sorry for her. She had remained self-righteous and indignant to the second that Inez's name was called. Although incredulous and amazed, she handled it with more grace than befit her age or personality for that matter. He overheard her tell her SheDevil mother that they should deal with it. He was taken aback. Yet, when it was all over, she didn't yell, scream or holler (unlike her mother). She just turned away, looking as if she decided to blend into the wall, never to be seen again. It was pitiful. He hoped to talk to her. Just a little comfort and an atta girl, but she hadn't been seen in a few days. Rumor had it that she was still in school, although a quieter more subdued mirror of her former self.. Who knows, maybe she was plotting to blow up the studio. One could expect fireworks from the Von Tussle family.

But something about the whole situation, gave Corny pause. The girl really never bothered him, short of the pouts and tantrums. In some ways, she stayed in the three year old stage. But he could see her mother never let her mature. A dose of guilty sympathy washed over him. Greed, power and manipulation kept her in her place. Their eyes had met for a second as she left, but he was too caught up in greedy excitement to go to her. Perhaps he should have, just perhaps.

Now. Mr. Spritzer! He was so shocked by the whole situation, he nearly blew a clot. The man hyperventilated in the booth and Corny put a bag over his face telling him to breathe, just breathe. Spritzer credited him with saving his life and saving the show! Corny gave the man a huge, million dollar grin and thought, "How can this lamebrain be running a company?" However, dealing with a person this dense, could become a golden opportunity. For the first time, Corny could bring a creative side to the show. Slip in the popular and edgy music. Let the kids dance as they felt, not constantly choreographed from beginning to end. That guy in Philadelphia did it. And they ran nationally. If American Bandstand could let the kids rock and roll, so could the Corny Collins Show.

The thoughts tickled his mind when he looked at the clock. Aw hell, he would have to skip the shower and pull a comb through the Brillcream to make the studio on time. His eyes swept across the room as he grabbed his suitcoat. There were huge plans brewing for the Corny Collins Show. Yet, he only knew the half of it.